THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has still not managed to secure payment for lawyers who represented Shanique Myrie in the infamous case almost two years since its historic judgment, the Jamaica Observer has been informed.
Word reaching the Sunday Observer is that the Government of Barbados remains unmoved, and there is no indication as to when payment, in part or full, will be made to the attorneys, it emerged last week.
Myrie, in a story first carried by the Jamaica Observer in March 2011, complained of being subjected to a dehumanising cavity search by a woman immigration officer at the Grantley Adams International Airport in the eastern Caribbean island of 260,000 people.
Myrie said that she was locked overnight in a filthy room and sent back to Jamaica the following day.
She initiated a legal procedure through the CCJ for damages, and the CCJ, in its most pronounced ruling to date, subsequently found that she was unlawfully treated and ordered the Government of Barbados to pay compensation to her and to cover the costs of her legal representation. The CCJ did not reach a decision on some aspects of the treatment allegedly meted out to Ms Myrie, but the Court decided that she had been illegally refused entry into Barbados, and ordered that damages be paid for this.
Myrie has been paid, but her lawyers have not, although 23 months have passed since the court’s judgment was delivered in October 2013.
At the initial stages, Myrie’s case was prepared by Michelle Brown, G Anthony Hylton (now Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce), and Marc Ramsay, all of the law firm HyltonBrown.
Professor Stephen Vasciannie served as a consultant to HyltonBrown.
By the time the matter went to trial, Brown and Nancy Anderson were the lawyers arguing on behalf of Myrie, as Hylton was named to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, while Professor Vasciannie was appointed to serve as Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States. Both Hylton and Ambassador Vasciannie were obliged to observe the later stages of the proceedings from afar.
The case was in two stages, and the Barbados Government was required to make payments at both stages, meaning that it must compensate the lawyers for amounts from the end of the first stage on April 18, 2012, and the second stage, October 4, 2013.
Based on the operations of the CCJ, an individual seeking to bring an action in the Original Jurisdiction of the CCJ must first seek the leave of the court by way of an Application for Special Leave. Assuming that this application is successful, the individual can then file an Originating Application to make the claim.
Myrie’s lawyers applied for Special Leave for the embattled woman and the matter was heard on April 18, 2012. At the end of the hearing, Barbados conceded that Myrie should be granted special leave and the court made the order granting special leave and awarded Michelle Brown and Marc Ramsey who appeared, joined in preparation by Anthony Hylton and consultation by Stephen Vasciannie, the costs for that application, which have not been paid.
The Originating Application was heard by the court over a three-month period between February and April 2013. When the court ruled in Myrie’s favour in the Originating Application on October 4, 2013, the court made another award of costs to Myrie’s attorneys Michelle Brown and Nancy Anderson, with respect to the trial of the matter. These costs have also not been paid.
Costs refer to both the attorneys’ fees and the legal expenses for the matter. The attorneys’ fees would include attorneys’ time for preparation and appearances in court, while the legal expenses would include sums already paid by the attorneys for the preparation and filing of documents, sending hard copies of documents to the court in Trinidad & Tobago for all parties in the matter, witness expenses, travel expenses to Barbados on two occasions for the hearing of the Application for Special Leave and for Trial, as well as travel expenses to Trinidad & Tobago for the trial.
The Sunday Observer understands that invoices and receipts for these costs were sent to the CCJ and to the Government of Barbados, but the Government of Barbados has refused to pay them, thus not meeting the obligation.
Some of the affected attorneys with whom contact was made by the Sunday Observer last week agreed to comment “but only very briefly” on the matter, when this tabloid sought a reaction.
Efforts, the Sunday Observer understands, are being continued to secure payment through legal means.
One senior attorney contacted by the Sunday Observer remarked that the situation must be embarrassing for the Caribbean Court of Justice and its supporters.
“Imagine: The CCJ’s President said recently that the Shanique Myrie Case is the most important decision of the court’s first 10 years, and still, the lawyers in that case are unpaid.”
The attorney-at-law, who asked not to be named, noted that the failure to pay Myrie’s lawyers could have major implications for the CCJ.
“If word gets around that lawyers are not paid for CCJ cases, then representation before the court will dwindle. Already, some politicians and other people retain doubts about the CCJ. Failure to ensure payment is another strike against the court. I bet the Barbados Government wouldn’t disregard the Privy Council in this way,” the veteran attorney noted.
Shanique Myrie was herself paid damages of US$38,000, eight months after the decision of the CCJ.
Confirmation came last week that Myrie will enter elective politics, as she has been approved to represent the ruling People’s National Party in the next local government election, now set for 2016.
She has been named the PNP’s candidate for the Olympic Gardens division of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, which is regarded as a relatively “safe” seat of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party.
Olympic Gardens is one of three municipal divisions in the constituency of West Central St Andrew, represented in Parliament by Leader of the Opposition Andrew Holness. The sitting councillor is Christopher Townsend.
The other divisions in the constituency are Seivwright Gardens, represented by the JLP’s Delroy Williams, and Molynes Gardens, represented by Patrick Roberts of the PNP.